Harding eyes one more tourney win

November 23, 2006

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Fort Wayne Harding used the regular season to get ready for the playoffs. Harding, the only Class 2A team in the Summit Athletic Conference, toughened itself with a regular-season schedule against 3A, 4A and even 5A opponents. Now, after five tournament wins against schools their own size, the Hawks are on the verge of their first football championship. "The best thing it does -- the Summit Athletic Conference has tremendous speed -- (is) it forces us to do certain things to adapt to that speed and it makes us faster ourselves," Harding coach Sherwood Haydock said. "In 2A ball, we don't quite see the same speed, but we see more systems, and that's the thing we notice about the 2A tournament." Harding (11-3), unranked after regular-season losses to 5A Fort Wayne Snider and 4A Dwenger and South, will play eighth-ranked Southridge (12-2) for the 2A championship Friday night. The only other finals appearance for Harding was in 2003, when the Hawks lost to Tri-West in a 41-36 shootout. Southridge, the runner-up the previous year to Fort Wayne Luers, is also trying for its first championship. "We had a meeting with them before the season, and the biggest thing was they had to be leaders," Southridge coach Kelly Murphy said of his veteran team. "We knew they would be a talented group, but we also knew they had to lead, and they've done a great job. This group has been fun to coach because they've been so loose." The only losses for Southridge this season were to Evansville Central, which finished as the No. 1-ranked team in Class 4A, and Heritage Hills, the No. 1 team in 3A. "I told the kids they've got to enjoy this," Murphy said. "There are 29 seniors who kind of got tabbed as being the group (of leaders) from fans in our community. Now they've accomplished it and I'm so happy for them." The Southridge senior class includes four running backs who have at least 600 yards rushing each, but Haydock isn't expecting a high-scoring game from the Raiders or the Hawks. "Both teams have very good defenses," he said. "Our defense is much better than it was in '03, so we're hoping the score will be a little bit lower."